Office of Frontier Security
The Office of Frontier Security, or OFS, was a powerful executive agency of the Solarian League government. It was created for management of the League's protectorates. Its duties included also promotion stability along the League's frontiers through mediation and negotiation for so-called Verge systems as well as peaceful assistance with obtaining a Solarian protectorate by willing Verge worlds. Organization The most external "layers" of the Solarian League were the inner and outer protectoratesone known exception was the Maya Sector - a sector province, non-independent worlds governed generally by the OFS.or in some cases by the Liaison Service also - it seems that David Drake's ideas concerning the League's government, described in A Grand Tour, were abandoned in favour of the later OFS concept. The OFS was part of the Ministry of Interior.While similar service - the Liaison Service was supervised by the Ministry of Protectorate Affairs. ( ) The basic OFS territorial organization unit was the sector. There were, however, some differences between outer sectors belonged to the League: * the OFS official in charge with a protectorate sector was a Commissioner, appointed by the Ministry of the Interior, like in the Madras Sector( , ) Kingdom of Myers was disestablished, not protected however. It is uncertain if a 'Commissioner' was the same position as the 'League High Commissioner' mentioned in A Grand Tour. * the OFS official in charge with a province sector was a Governor, like in the Maya SectorSome kind of exception connected with the fact that wealthy sector representatives negotiated more favourable agreement with the OFS - according to the Talbotters, inhabitants of the Maya Sector "bought" such agreement. ( ). The OFS was not present in the peripheral areas of the settled sphere, where the Solarian League didn't border with any star nation.Eg. there was no the OFS presence in the underdeveloped Region 12, instead the Liaison Service was in charge there; the Liaison Service was substitute for a High Commissioner - however any High Commissioner never appeared in Honorverse, and the most similar name of the office concerned Commissioners appointed by the OFS. ( ) The OFS Governors and Commissioners were supported by Lieutenant Governors and Vice-Commissioners. When the OFS Commissioner was incapable of performing his duties, his Vice-Commissioner was entitled to act as acting Commissioner. Lower level OFS officials were District Officers.Appeared when the Boniface rebellion was mentioned, probably in charge of one planet or system. The Governor of the Maya Sector was entitled in the name of the Solarian League to extend assistance and protection to neighbour star nations and sign commercial and mutual defense treaties. ( , , ) Enforcement instruments The major security force in the protectorates was the Solarian Gendarmerie.A Brigadier General was in charge of the Madras Sector, while a Major commanded on Air in the Twelfth Region. It was very likely part of the Ministry of Interior as well and cooperated probably with the OFS on the similar way as the Frontier Fleet.both organizations enjoyed a degree of autonomy on the sector level and were able to deny to execute acting OFS Commissioner's questionable instructions or orders ( , ) The Solarian League Navy's Frontier Fleet nominally at least worked for or with the Frontier Security, so the Frontier Security Commissioners were entitled to give the Frontier Fleet commanding officers a formal instructions, as well: * Frontier Fleet detachments were permanently assignment to OFS Sector Commissioners and Governors office, * OFS senior officials were entitled to demand Frontier Fleet support, which could also include ground operations executed by the Solarian Marines. ( , , ) The OFS controlled an auxiliary military force called the Frontier Forces. Such force comprised very likely of security and intervention battalionspartly staffed by Monican mercenaries. ( , ) Controversy Because of poor supervision and bureaucratic degeneration, the OFS became a tool of outright expansionism, creating false pleas for assistance and fraudulent referendums to justify the extension of its control. Purpose of such expansionism was economic exploitation of Verge worlds. ( , ) In that manner, and without legislative oversight, the Office of Frontier Security developed its own foreign policy, which consisted of pressuring, bullying, and ultimately absorbing any peripheral Verge system incapable of standing up to OFS on its own, whether their people wanted to be absorbed or not. The unchecked activities of OFS were made considerably more predatory and callous by corrupt dealings with the League's massive multistellar corporations and commercial interests. These corporations aided and supported Frontier Security's activities, in exchange for exploitation privileges of newly-acquired worlds under OFS authority and OFS intervention in suppressing dissent against that exploitation. In particular, many leading figures in Frontier Security had close if private connections with the slaver corporations of Mesa. While Frontier Security's abuses were not a secret, and often were at the forefront of the demands of Solarian reformists, the vast majority of the League's population was generally unaware of the details of OFS's activities. Frontier Security regarded the Star Kingdom of Manticore as a threat to its interests (and those of its Mesan partners), particularly after the discovery of the Lynx Terminus of the Manticore Junction and the proposed annexation of the Talbott Cluster by the Star Empire. The Cluster was both in Frontier Security's planned path of expansion, but much closer to Mesa itself than was Manticore. To forestall the annexation, Frontier Security and the Gendarmerie, with the hidden assistance of Mesa (especially the Jessyck Combine), developed and began to carry out a plan to arm fringe Cluster groups opposed to the annexation. The objective was to trigger a campaign of violence and terrorism to provide a pretext for OFS to intervene as a neutral Power to keep the peace. And not least to wrestle the Cluster away from Manticore. ( ) Client states * Republic of Monica * Okada System See also * Solarian Sectors References Category:Solarian League Category:Government Category:Frontier Security